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Third hearing of Saddam trial underway 5.12.2005
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Baghdad, 5 Dec.
(AKI) - The third hearing in the trial of Saddam
Hussein and seven former Baath party officials got
underway amid heavy security in Baghdad on Monday.
Ten witnesses to the massacre of more than 140
Shiites in the town of Dujail in 1982, following an
assassination attempt on the former Iraqi dictator,
are due to be heard.
Saddam is accused of ordering the killings after his
convoy was attacked as he passed though the
Shiite-dominated town. All eight defendants are
charged with crimes against humanity.
The second hearing was held on Monday last week, but
was adjourned after a couple of hours, to allow new
lawyers to be appointed for the defendants. At least
four of the lawyers for the eight defendants failed
to turn up last week and on Monday, shortly after
the trial resumed, the defence team walked out in
protest after the judge refused to allow them to
address the court in an effort to challenge its
legitimacy. |
Former dictator Saddam Hussein
Photo : AFP
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The court has dismissed a request by the Iraqi
public ministry to expel the two foreign lawyers on
Saddam Hussein's defence team, former US
attorney-general Ramsey Clark and the Qatari justice
minister, Najib al-Nuaimi. While the prosecution
claims that Iraqi law does not allow foreign lawyers
to be involved in the trial of an Iraqi, the chief
judge rejected the claim, referring instead to the
rules laid down by the United Nations.
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